I have waiting for this
news for decades. After all there is no
end of victims who are completely healable except for the nerve damage.
It is not too hard to
imagine clean ends been brought together with an intervening gel to facilitate
regrowth combined with stimulation of the driving side. It may even become possible to recognize and
label individual nerves well enough for the brain to easily rewire the
rest. If we really get lucky, natural
systems will kick in a solve it nicely.
As I have posted in the
past, disability will soon largely disappear and be replaced by healthy bodies
able to fully function. Progress is
already visible everywhere though no one understands the speed and urgency been
applied.
Scientists Regrow
Severed Spinal Cords In Rats
Neuroscientists
surgically and chemically reconnect rats' severed spinal cords, recovering the
rats' bladder control.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/regrowing-rats-severed-spinal-cords
Scientists
have found a way to reconnect severed spinal cords in rats, allowing them to
regain bladder control--a major accomplishment that could one day help humans
with similar nervous system injuries recover lost abilities.
The
spinal cord is the root of all bodily nerves, with an intimate, direct
connection to the brain; together, they comprise the central nervous system.
Severe injuries to the spinal cord are drastic and were long presumed to be
irreparable. In many cases they result in a loss of bodily functions and
permanent paralysis.
The
intriguing thing is that the spinal cord actually attempts to repair itself.
Yet due to several factors which are still not entirely understood, natural
regeneration stops shortly after it begins.
Over the last 30 years, scientists have worked to chemically encourage
regrowth. Two chemicals, chondroitinase and FGF, show strong signs of doing
exactly that--in rats, at least. Independently, over the past three decades,
each chemical has shown some promise in restoring simple but crucial rat motor
processes, like breathing, even with entirely severed spinal cords.
Two
surgeons in the field figured that a combination of the chemicals might
enhance the regrowth even more. The surgeons, from Case Western Reserve
University and the Cleveland Clinic, began by entirely severing the spinal
cords of 15 rats to ensure no independent, natural regrowth. That shut off the
rats' bladder control (a nervous system process that is especially important in
rats, since they urinate often and to mark their territory). The researchers
then injected the two growth-stimulating chemicals into both sides of the
severance, and reinforced the gap in the cord with steel wiring and surgical
thread.
After
six months of growth, the rats demonstrated near-normal bladder control--it
seems that the nerves had recuperated enough for brain-spinal cord-bladder
communication to work once more. The rats did not regain the ability to walk,
but that was not the experiment’s intention. “It's clear that some primitive
functions may be able to come back. We've shown for the very first time that we
can promote long-distance regeneration in the adult spinal cord, across a
complete spinal cord lesion. It's a step in the right direction,” project
director Jerry Silver explained.
The
scientists intend to continue their research, next trying their method on older
spinal cord injuries. After enough testing, they might be able to use the
technique on humans. But, that is a long ways off, and the scientists seem
humble enough to recognize that fact.
Maybe, though, if they added electric stimulation to their
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